Malkin: Project Gunrunner: Obama's Stimulus-Funded Border Nightmare

By Michelle MalkinMarch 30, 2011 6:30 am

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Buried in Barack Obama's failed trillion-dollar stimulus program was a $10 million bloody border racket that has now cost American lives. This goes far beyond the usual waste, fraud and abuse underwritten by progressive profligacy. It's bloodstained government malfeasance overseen by anti-gun ideologues -- and now anti-gun ideologue Attorney General Eric Holder will "investigate."

Welcome to Project Gunrunner. Prepare for another Justice Department whitewash.

First, some background. Like so many border programs run amok, Project Gunrunner was the spawn of Beltway bipartisanship. It was established in 2005 as a pilot project under the Bush administration and run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The intended goal of the program's sting operations: stop illicit firearms trafficking along the Southwest border through close surveillance of undercover gun purchases and coordinated intervention with Mexico. The deadly result: federally sanctioned gunwalking of high-powered weapons from U.S. officials right into the hands of drug cartel killers.

By 2008, Project Gunrunner's bureaucratic fiefdom had expanded rapidly along the U.S.-Mexico border and into the nine U.S. consulates in Mexico. The office raked in $2 million more through the little-scrutinized Merida Initiative, which Hispanic vote-pandering Republicans rammed through in a war supplemental bill. Despite warnings from the DOJ inspector general that tracking and assessment measures needed improvement, the payroll exploded from a few dozen to more than 200 by 2009. Under the Obama administration, ATF reaped another $21.9 million to expand Project Gunrunner (nearly half from the stimulus boondoggle), and the White House has requested almost $12 million more in fiscal year 2011 appropriations for the program.

Project Gunrunner's reach and authority continues to grow despite dire, prolonged warnings from insiders and whistleblowers that countless monitored guns have been passed on to violent criminals without being intercepted as planned. Following up on leads first published at www.cleanupatf.org and the blogs of gun rights advocates David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh, CBS News reported last month that Project Gunrunner "allegedly facilitated the delivery of thousands of guns into criminal hands."

One of those guns was used by Mexican gang thugs who murdered U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December. At least six veteran ATF agents and executives stepped forward to expose how ATF presided over the purchase of hundreds of high-powered rifles and pistols -- over the objection of the very private gun shops that the Obama administration's anti-gun zealots have vilified.

One whistleblower familiar with Project Gunrunner's Phoenix offshoot, dubbed "Operation Fast and Furious," told CBS News: "The numbers are over 2,500 on that case by the way. That's how many guns were sold -- including some 50-calibers they let walk." The weapon used in the Mexico slaying of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Jaime Zapata has also been linked to Project Gunrunner surveillance operation subjects.

As investigative watchdog Republicans Sen. Charles Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa step up pressure on the administration to come clean this week about who knew what and when, Obama denied any knowledge of Project Gunrunner on Spanish-language Univision TV. He blithely allowed that "there may be a situation here in which a serious mistake was made. If that's the case, then we'll find out and we'll hold someone accountable."

Coming from a man who appointed crime-coddling, accountability-evading, open-borders corruptocrat Eric Holder to uphold the law, that is a bloody, cruel joke.

---

Michelle Malkin is the author of "Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks & Cronies" (Regnery 2010).

61 Comments

Comment by onewildman March 30, 2011 @ 8:19 am

This seems more like an attempt to expand the number of guns from the US found in Mexico to malign American gun owners and gun dealers. The sales of these guns were detected by the BAFT because honest dealers reported them. The BAFT allowed these purchases to continue. They knew where the guns were going and the Mexican government claims they were not informed and would not have allowed this to happen.
Just last month the BAFT wanted all gun dealers who operated in border states to report anyone who buys two long guns in a single month because they were worried about those guns going to Mexico. Now we know that good number of guns traced to the US were deliberately allowed to go to Mexico. They claim that they did this to build a case, what a crock. I think the case was that wanted to build was a case for a gun ban! This is an assault on the Second Amendment!
How many Mexican and American citizens have died because of their so called want to build a case. These people have facilitated murder and should be held accountable!
IMPEACH OBAMA NOW! ! ! ! ! ! !
IMPEACH OBAMA NOW!

onewildman, I had not read your comment till now. I just sent Michelle’s excellent article, and url, to my congressfolk and the White House with this statement:

You see, we know! And NOT from this one article. I do NOT trust Holder’s
DOJ one bit. Holder should be in jail for so many things. He should lose
his license for malpractice and malfeasance. And as this is an anti-gun,
anti-2nd Amendment administration, they are using THE ATF’S own incompetence to try to take away MORE of our freedoms. See the ATF’s recent attempt to decide
what’s a hunting shotgun and what’s not. Soon, only criminals will be
allowed to have guns, in Obama’s tyrannical and George Soros run
administration.

IMPEACH OBAMA NOW!

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Comment by inluminatuo March 30, 2011 @ 12:25 pm

Does anyone doubt that Mexican Cartel Drug money has reached the halls of Congress and the Whitehouse itself. Just follow the money and see why our own officials are looking the other way to the massive illegal immigration of people, drugs and arms across our southern border. It’s time American troops leave the middle east and let the Muslims go back to what they do best, which is killing each other, and return our troops home to do what they were designed to do,,,,repel foreign invasion. Perhaps we need to establish a Demilitarized Zone on our Southern Border and disarm the criminal elements who use these areas as footholds and power bases to invade U.S. soil. Investigations should be made as to any and all U.S. government officials who leave office substantially richer than when they came into office. Just follow the money folks it always leads to the truth.

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Comment by majestic March 30, 2011 @ 3:10 pm

I AGREE WITH THE IMPEACHMENT OF OBAMA, BUT THE IDEA OF JOE BIDEN AS PRESIDENT. WHAT WOULD WE GAIN

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Comment by inluminatuo March 30, 2011 @ 9:37 pm

We would lose the community organ grinder and acquire his pet monkey.

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Comment by americanbeliever March 30, 2011 @ 8:59 am

I agree that this entire situation is a mess and that having Eric Holder investigate is a very sick joke and I would say waste of time but we all know he won’t be spending any time on this.Obama saying he knew nothing about it is also ridiculous as the benefits of this serves a number of agendas for him.Besides being ammunition to be twisted around to use to take our guns which he is set on doing the violence created with them just complicates the border situation.The violence acts as a smoke screen for the muslim terrorists running back and forth across our wide open borders and makes a large number of weapons available to muslim infiltrators.This entire situation is beyond ridiculous and knowing the number of weapons turned loose there is all the more reason to close our borders tight and bring our military home from across the globe to see that they stay closed.Whoever the administration decides to sacrifice to be responsible for this mess will certainly not be the correct one as the White House “protects its own”.The people responsible should be hung out to dry but it will never happen as its just one more thing to help tear this country apart as that is exactly what Obama wants.Thats what happens when a muslim jihadist deep cover terrorist is elected president.You can expect more of the same kind of stupidity unless we boot him out now!

Michelle…As an ardent supporter of our right to bear arms, I appreciate another of your eye-opening articles. Besides the deaths of our own agents and, as OneWildMan points out, who knows how many civilians, the tragedy of this project is the fact our elected representatives seem unable to accomplish any action to stop it. I believe this program, on its own, is sufficient reason to shut down the government NOW. Then, if they have the fortitude, the congress can “clean up” (or, perhaps, “out”) this and many, many other programs. I fear, if the our elected representatives don’t “wake up,” the growing number of citizens finally awakening may start to take measures, outside our established government, to regain control of our country.

IS THIS THE REASON FOR SHUTTING THE GOVERMENT NOW?
First, some background. Like so many border programs run amok, Project Gunrunner was the spawn of Beltway bipartisanship. It was established in 2005 as a pilot project under the Bush administration and run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The intended goal of the program’s sting operations: stop illicit firearms trafficking along the Southwest border through close surveillance of undercover gun purchases and coordinated intervention with Mexico. The deadly result: federally sanctioned gunwalking of high-powered weapons from U.S. officials right into the hands of drug cartel killers.
By 2008, Project Gunrunner’s bureaucratic fiefdom had expanded rapidly along the U.S.-Mexico border and into the nine U.S. consulates in Mexico. The office raked in $2 million more through the little-scrutinized Merida Initiative, which Hispanic vote-pandering Republicans rammed through in a war supplemental bill. Despite warnings from the DOJ inspector general that tracking and assessment measures needed improvement, the payroll exploded from a few dozen to more than 200 by 2009. Under the Obama administration, ATF reaped another $21.9 million to expand Project Gunrunner (nearly half from the stimulus boondoggle), and the White House has requested almost $12 million more in fiscal year 2011 appropriations for the program.

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Comment by Rich Money March 31, 2011 @ 6:49 am

Cless: Don Quixote tilted at windmills, I’d suggest you not do the same. I agree that the program started as ‘beltway bipartisanship”, but the fact still remains that the stimulus package that Obama pushed had continued funding for the program even knowing that the program was failing miserably at its stated objective. The president’s primary job is to lead, and leadership tells us this program should have been stopped long ago. Notice that Holder is “investigating” the program; no mention is made that the program is actually being stopped. Why not? Border patrol agents are being killed with guns OUR government supplied to the killers, and the program still hasn’t been stopped? We are committing to military action in Libya, when we have no strategic interest there at all, while we watch Mexican drug runners kill agents and other innocents all over the south without lifting a finger. All the while border agents aren’t even allowed to load real ammunition in their weapons; they shoot beanbags. Where is the leadership? Do you think Reagan would have let two-bit petty thugs terrorize the southwest US the way Obama has? Not a chance. Obama has a specific interest in Libya, since many of the Libyan “rebels” are actually Al-Queda terrorists, and therefore Muslim brethren. It is high time people realize that Obama is truly interested in destroying America and rebuilding it into a socialist state, and he will use any means at his disposal to make it happen. Cless, you can support him if you want to, but if you keep following him, you better get used to being broke and oppressed, because that has been the fate of every socialist nation that has ever existed.

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Comment by onewildman March 31, 2011 @ 8:38 am

Cless you are off the mark again. First the democrats are the ones pandering to the Hispanics not the republicans. second the Republicans have not rammed the war supplemental bill through if they had it would not have passed through the senate and if it did Obama would have vetoed it. Also the last war supplemental bill that passed was done when the Democrats controlled the house, The senate and the white house. How stupid are you? Quit posting liberal lies. The only you got right is the expansion under Obama’s watch!
IMPEACH OBAMA NOW! ! ! ! ! ! !

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Comment by ter334 March 30, 2011 @ 9:18 am

”there may be a situation here in which a serious mistake was made. If that’s the case, then we’ll find out and we’ll hold someone accountable.”
+++++++++++++

Sounds like a rerun of Clinton’s statement after the Cole, I think, terrorist attack. We will track them down and bing them to justice!

The major problem in Establihment DC is PC has run wild and infected everything in our govt. Elected and appointed officials. And would incluide the appointment of infiltrators, Muslim Brotherhood members, into positions within our security system. Talk about foxes guarding the hen house.

The Reagan Administration, using an Israeli-operated supply line set up through highly secret negotiations with the regime of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, last year began supplying U.S.-made missiles and weapons parts to Iran in exchange for Iran’s aid in freeing Americans held hostage in Lebanon, government sources said Wednesday.

Now it’s blame Reagan time.
If this began last year Reagan had nothing to do with it. the Iran Contra affair was in 1986, 25 years ago. There was also no proof ever found that Reagan authorized the sale. So anything sold to the in the last Iranians is Obama’s doing, although I don’t believe Obama would take the chance and get caught. After all he is in charge and would have knowledge of such sales. Also this would be in violation of several UN resolutions.
The US is not supplying US missiles to Iran. Your sources are questionable that made this claim. If this had been the case the media would have plastered this on TV, News papers and the internet. No foreign news agency would let this story stay in the closet.
IMPEACH OBAMA NOW! ! ! ! ! !

Cless, you are an idiot. Where did you copy that old paragraph? Reagan has been dead for years. Seriously, if you are going to continue posting here you need to address issues seriously. We do not provide this space for trolls but for serious discussion of issues.

Also, we’ve been considering giving conservative members an opportunity to vote a troll off the island now and then. Is that something any of our conservatives would be interested in?

Lets not start banning ignorant posters merely because they are lefty-loons. To do so would not elevate discussion; it would only make it easier for thoughtless angry “righties” to control those with whom they disagree and that is only self-serving in the end.

The left scrubs dissent. Let’s not stoop to their lowest common denominator by not entertaining arguments from them as they are wont to do to us. We are fully capable of reading/skimming past their drivel on our own. Besides, sometimes they are quite good for a laugh!

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Comment by curiouspat March 30, 2011 @ 11:43 am

Our beloved Constitution and Bill of Rights give ALL of us FREEDOM OF SPEECH. To me, that means MORE SPEECH not less, and that we MUST listen/read all sides. The way I look at trolls is they help us ‘KNOW OUR OPPOSITION! The leftists want their own way and do not want to give the same FIRST AMENDMENT rights to us.

Please, NEVER follow their example. When the posts get too ridiculous, just totally ignore them, STICK TO THE ISSUES and LOL.

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Comment by onewildman March 30, 2011 @ 11:47 am

I agree with HisStoryUn, Don’t vote them off. Maybe just maybe some of them can see the truth and stop believing the liberal propaganda and start researching for the truth.
IMPEACH OBAMA NOW! ! ! ! ! !

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Comment by Liberty4310 March 30, 2011 @ 12:02 pm

No, don’t vote them off. We all need some nonsense to get our daily juices flowing. cless is an idiot.

Free speech doesn’t mean what is said or written has to make sense or be factual. Idiots are allowed to express themselves too.

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Comment by TRUTHTELLER March 30, 2011 @ 12:53 pm

HsStoryUn is correct.

For years now, I have been commenting on not paying any attention to trolls. Trolls only spout left wing babble and propaganda. Their minds are closed to the truth or reality. Nothing we say in these posts, will change their minds, or wake them up to the real world they live in.

In view of these facts, answering them or rebutting their factless and baseless rhetoric, is a complete waste of time. If we don’t pay any attention to them, they will eventually go away.

When I started posting here, I thought that I was probably just preaching to the choir. Over the years, however, that attitude has changed. On many occasions, I have heard and watched nationally syndicated talk show hosts and commentators, quote information stated by posters here, made days before. The quotes for the most part were verbatim.

This tells me that what we do here is important, not just to GOPUSA readers, but in disseminating the truth to the whole country, vis-a-vis talk show and non msm news media. We, quite frankly, don’t have time to banter back and fourth with trolls, which takes up space and makes it harder to sort out the real stuff, from the drivel.

To the GOPUSA Staff. Please don’t initiate a voting off site policy. We have such great, educated and hi-class writers, (Malkin, Regan, Sowell, Limbaugh, Bobby Eberle and many others) To have a voting off the island, reality show mentality, is beneith their dignity.

Not paying attention to trolls, is taking the high road in this matter.

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Comment by Vicki March 31, 2011 @ 6:36 am

@GOPUSA Staff.
I agree with the others here. Please do allow the trolls to stay. They are excellent examples of the assertion that liberalism is a mental disorder. We can use their illogic to show readers who are unsure why the conservative way is the better path.

To others about freedom of speech. That is a limit to Congress not to individual papers/blogs etc. Though I agree we should, for all the reasons stated, allow the trolls and liberals to speak here (as long as they are civil) it is the property of GOPUSA who can limit speech in any way they choose.

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Comment by Rich Money March 30, 2011 @ 9:28 am

Let’s face it…if Obama were serious about “cleaning this up,” we wouldn’t be screwing around in Libya and arming Al-Queda terrorists with weapons they will ultimately use against us. We would send our military into Mexico (with or without consent) with clear instructions to eradicate the drug cartel. This whole situation is ludicrous. We supply weapons to drug dealers while requiring our own border patrol agents to fire beanbags instead of bullets. We coddle and grant immunity to Mexican drug runners while using their “testimony” to prosecute the border patrol agents that apprehend them. This is simply one more way Obama is doing his best to destroy America. Adding insult to injury, having Holder “investigate” this is like leaving Hannibal Lecter in charge of the cooking school. It’s an absolute joke, with no chance whatsoever of anyone actually facing the music for the agents that have lost their lives as a result of this boondoggle. Obama is not inept or uneducated; far from it. He is following exactly the agenda set for him by people like George Soros. He is determined to tear America apart and “reengineer” it as a socialist utopia where he and his other liberal elites can steal and plunder the masses at their leisure. Wake up, America, and stand against the evil that this man and his cronies are pushing before it is too late to save this great nation.

Dear HisStoryUn Liberty4310 I do appreciate your remarks defending my right of presenting my facts to consider in the debate. That is what I mention in my post as integrity.
Now, dear people and most especially, in response to the GOPUSA Staff’s comment about me above and in the spirit of being truthful about the GOPUSA site, please allow this poor pitiful TROLL to suggest something. If you are not interested in considering actual facts and lessons of history to find the truth in any issue and therein, apply those to creating a real and lasting solution, then clearly say so in big fat letters at the top of your home page.
You might also consider a proposal to your newly elected congress members that they submit a bill for new legislation controlling our judicial system. In that proposed new law, you could make it illegal in every court of law in the nation, for any source having news, information, facts, or confirmed history, that does not conform to your views to be branded the work of a troll and therefore, is not admissible.

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Comment by onewildman March 31, 2011 @ 8:41 am

Cless, the problem is you rarely come up with facts. what you do come up with are distortions of truth and liberal propaganda (AKA: lies).

IMPEACH OBAMA NOW! ! ! ! ! !

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Comment by cless March 30, 2011 @ 9:29 am

Did Ronald Reagan commit treason when he paid the Iranian’s to not release the hostages in order to prevent the re-election of Jimmy Carter in 1980. The hostages were released as promised as Reagan was sworn into office. Reagan then gave weapons to Iran.

Cless Jimmy did not get reelected because he was incompetent. He was until now the worst president ever. The reason that Iranians released the hostages when Reagan was sworn in is because they knew that Reagan would use military force against them. You are just repeating a liberal lie that has no substance to back it up.
Not only is jimmy Carter a disgrace as president he finished last in his class at Annapolis. He proved ineptitude with his failed attempt to have the hostages rescued. his strategy is the reason it failed. He should have used only one branch of the military with equipment and men trained for desert operations.
I was in the service at that time and that is the reason I joined.
IMPEACH OBAMA NOW! ! ! ! ! !

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Comment by Rich Money March 30, 2011 @ 10:16 am

Cless, it appears obvious to me that you were the cless clown (pun intended) in history class. First off, Reagan didn’t need the hostage crisis to beat Jimmy Carter in 1980. The economy declined so poorly under Carter’s watch that Reagan used Carter’s own “misery index” calculations against Carter in debate after debate. Reagan crushed Carter in 1980; the vote wasn’t close. The Iranian weapon debacle has been debated and was a poorly conceived idea, but nowhere has anyone been able to find one shred of proof that Reagan “engineered” the hostage crisis to last any longer than necessary. In reality, the hostages were released because for the first time in a while we had a president that had the guts to go get them, instead of acting like the orphan child Oliver saying “Please sir, I’d like some more,” when dealing with foreign powers. There is no question the weapons to Iran situation was poorly conceived, but to try to imply that Reagan required American citizens to sit in captivity longer than they needed to just to put a feather in his political cap is ridiculous. It is the same kind of liberal drivel we’ve heard about Reagan since he first took office. Why let the facts get in the way when you can smear his character anyway? Typical liberal attack stategy…use innuendo and outright lies to assassinate someone in the court of public opinion. Unfortunately for the liberals, America is wising up to the strategy.

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Comment by Phillydawg March 30, 2011 @ 11:19 am

The reason they released the hostages was BECAUSE a tough guy like Reagan was taking office. Are you that dense?? It’s like John Wayne taking office after a “Tiny Tim” presidency. Also did Bill Clinton committ treason when he sold our ICBM missle guidance secrets to the communist chinese adjutant general via John Huang in exchange for $300,000.00 of illegal re-election campaign contribution? He/they got caught and returned the money, but of course the communist chinese now have missles pointed at us. How about his attempt to lease Long Beach Naval Base, after closing it, to the communist chinese shipping company COSTCO??

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Comment by Dave.Rock March 30, 2011 @ 9:32 am

Michelle, thanks again for a most informative article, you never cease to amaize
me with your reporting. It is sad to see our government involved in such dealings and eved sader that our so called president can just say he did not know what was going on. Holder is a dolt and should be removed from office as should Obummer.

As always, great reporting from one of my very favorite patriotic commentary reporters; Michelle Malkin. I actually corresponded directly with the BATFE director, Barbara Terrell early on regarding the filing for an emergency regulation requiring gun dealers in states bordering Mexico to keep track of their customers and file special reports to ATF whenever a customer purchases more than one semi-automatic rifle within any 5-day period. I told her such action is totally uncontitutional without going through congress.

I also specified to Ms. Terrell that I despise the fact that her agency thinks they can enact such only upon the approval by the head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Cass Sunstein, who famously advocated for the abolition of all hunting and for the extension of legal rights – including the right to have a court-appointed attorney – to animals. Her agency’s proposal may also be in violation under the Paperwork Reduction Act forbidding unnecessary increases in paperwork burdens.

I specified that similar attempts by her agency in the past were quashed by the McClure-Volkmer Firearms Owners Protection Act to repeal some of the more onerous and confusing sections of the Gun Control Act of 1968.

Correspondence went on for awhile and some of my responses were very direct ending with my telling Ms. Terrell that she and her staff needs to read the constitution word for word using the Federalists papers as guidence for proper interpretation as opposed to their probable idealogical interpretation. Most all of Ms. Terrell’s return correspondence was nothing but boilerplate, bureaucratic, BS rhetoric. Needless to say, the correspondence has totally ceased and I am now awaiting the outcome from Grassley’s and Issa’s probe.

Because of my harsh but respectful correspondence with Ms. Terrell, I can only assume I’m on their poop list.

Is it so hard to believe the president “had no knowledge of Project Gunrunner”?

You had me at “had no knowledge…”

But even if he did, what kind of operation risks the lives of our people and agents by facilitating the arming of violent thugs? They let .50 cal machineguns get through?

Seriously, Mr. Holder?

And then they have the cajones to blame American laws, gun shop owners and our passion to support the Second Amendment for gun violence on the border?

It doesn’t matter which administration started it, this was a stupid idea! What was the point of Gunrunner? Did they have tracking chips in these weapons? Did Mexico retrieve any of them? Was any benefit whatsoever derived from this scam? Did border violence go up or down?

Besides the cost in human life, it’s become even more political with the Left looking for reasons to further curtail American’s gun rights. Never let a crisis go to waste, even if you have to create one!

There’s little doubt in my mind that Obama didn’t know about Operation Gun Runner. He is oblivious to the details of just about everything his administration does ala “If you like your current health insurance, you can keep it.” A lot of unelected bureaucrats and czars make up everything this administration does and he lets them run with it. He has what has been called “plausable deniability” for just about everything that comes out of the White House and Congress.

Here is a great place for House Republicans to take a stand by cutting off funding.

I agree wholeheartedly. Cless has bashed republicans whenever possible while defending democrats. If I’m right it wont be the first time a liberal has repeated lies and made them up.
IMPEACH OBAMA NOW! ! ! ! !

Is it just me, or do others also notice that the far left, secular progressive drones like Cless always seem to blurt out things without having facts or evidence to back such?

BTW, Did I mention that I too want Obama impeached like, right now?

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Comment by cless March 30, 2011 @ 11:05 am

Dear folks, why is it attacking conservatives, when I point out that a Republican President quite likely did the same thing you are accusing Obama of. Almost every one of your posts either claims Obama knew what was going on and allowed it OR he was to inept to know.

I didn’t defend Obama or accuse him, BECAUSE, LIKE ALL OF YOU I CAN NOT SAY FOR SURE, WHICH IS TRUE OR NOT. I DON’T KNOW THE REAL TRUTH ANY MORE THAN YOU DO.

My posts were meant to show the same situation related to Reagan. I DIDN’T SAY I KNOW REAGAN DID KNOW OR NOT. I did not write those articles. They came from actual news articles of the time. However, I did point out much more threatening beyond 50 caliber weapons were involved. I also commented on the illegal drug involvement and possible political ploy.

So, what am I doing. I AM ATTEMPTING, AS JUST ONE PERSON, TO BRING INTEGRITY INTO OUR POLITICS, BY HOPING PEOPLE ON BOTH SIDES WILL SEEK WAYS TO WORK WITH EACH OTHER TO FIX OUR GOVERNMENT. THIS BLIND HATE AND ACCUSATIONS WILL DESTROY US.

If we do have a problem with this gun issue, what will blaming Obama do to fix it? The department governing this was created by Bush to begin with and disjunction soon thereafter. But, you folks didn’t seem to care back then. The Dems do the same. They only care, when it involves the other side.

SO, TELL ME WHY I SHOULD VOTE FOR EITHER PARTY, WHEN YOU ARE SO ALIKE, IN WHAT I DON’T LIKE? And, by-the-way, didn’t some wise person say something about what happens, when you don’t learn from history.

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Comment by onewildman March 30, 2011 @ 11:34 am

cless you are not too intelligent. you are comparing apples to oranges, bringing up Reagan. You bare not showing the same situation you are grasping at straws and trying to defend Obama without saying it directly.
1. Nothing was ever proved to link Reagan. His only crime was being President.
2. No one was allowing guns to be used to build a case against criminals in other countries that were already known wanted criminals. If you didn’t know all guns are illegal to own by civilians.
3. It appears that they had another reason to allow this. By letting these guns to cross the boarder they could then say that the problem is American gun owners and that they should ban all guns in the US.
Obama is openly anti gun. If you didn’t know that you are not paying attention. You also have a poor grasp of history, Bush did not create this department. He may have know about the original intention of this program, I don’t know. It seems that the program escalated and morphed into what it is after Obama became president.
I am looking forward to hearing the evidence and seeing just what the time line of this program shows.

Weather or not you realize it you post give insight to what you think and who you are. you can try all you want but everyone sees that you are Pro biased on anything Obama and Union.
One more thing I do believe that Obama knew simply because he is a micro manager.

IMPEACH OBAMA NOW! ! ! ! !

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Comment by Rich Money March 30, 2011 @ 12:15 pm

Cless:
You claim to be an independent thinker; try practicing it. Every post I have seen from you has either bashed a conservative or defended a liberal or both. In the case of the mexican gun-running sitution, as Mrs. Malkin clearly pointed out, the roots of it are buried in his failed stimulus plan. Considering it is HIS stimulus plan, it is logical to assume he knew what the plan entailed. And even if you want to try to defend it as saying he didn’t understand its implications, the activities at the Mexican border make it clear what is happening, yet our border patrol agents (who are under the command of the FEDERAL government) are still forbidden to fire live ammunition, while the drug runners have weapons that this program has supplied them. And please don’t tell me that now that he understands he’s going to have Holder investigate. This is the same Eric Holder that dropped all charges against the New Black Panther party in Philadelphia in a case that was the most clear-cut indisputable case of voter intimidation in years, AND they had video. Politicians from both sides of the aisle condemned it, and yet they were let off scott-free by the AG. Obama not only knew about the gun-running scam, he sanctioned it, and now he hopes to play the shell game with Holder to fool Americans into believing he’s actually trying to do something about it. If you want to be independent, try actualy researching things for yourself instead of constantly drinking the liberal kool-aid.

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Comment by AMVoter March 30, 2011 @ 10:04 am

Having Obama’s incompetent lap dog Holder investigate is a joke! It’s also interesting how Obama “isn’t aware or doesn’t know” about anything that could be detrimental for him. But I suppose golfing, partying, vacationing and campaigning doesn’t leave time to actually be involved with doing his job.

If you haven’t read this please take a moment; their plan to overthrow us.http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21/
“Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area in which human impacts on the environment.”

Going to the UN’s own website, reading Agenda 21, in 2006, is what woke me up, and got me to start searching. Also a suggestion, follow the CFR’s own website! The globalists are very real, and IMHO, very dangerous to our nation.

I’m ashamed to say I was like most Americans back then, trusting my gov’t while I worked so hard, and raised my children. Of course, back then I had NO computer, and only had rabbit ears on my TV, so only got the lamestream media, PBS, and since I lived in Miami, a few Spanish stations. Although I knew the MSM was liberal, I had NO IDEA of how badly we were misinformed, with their lies, either by omission or comission. Fortunately, Americans are waking up by the millions! I just pray we’re not too late.

Let’s be clear. Communism has been renamed or redefined as environmental statism. This is the path that the global elitists have been progressively pushing forward for years now. It is of my opinion that this movement has a big hurdle to overcome. That hurdle is the USA and their movement must be careful not to overwhelm us but to progressively move forward because if you go back into history with the likes of the Third Reich, former Soviet regime, Mao’s communist China, Imperial Japan, as well as some current examples including Iran and N. Korea, you will see that these regimes basically flourished due to the fact that their citizens were mostly disarmed. Completely different story here in the USA with our estimated 90 million “Registered” gun owners. The global elite realize this and this is why their agenda must be progressive. The virtually unreported International Small Arms Treaty sanctioned by both Hillary and Obama is a small but devistating progressive move forward if it transpires. This Project Gunrunner fiasco is also a small progressive move forward. The Ft. Hood and recent Tuscon tragedies are also tickets for progressive moves forward to violate our second ammendment rights. I truly believe that the power of our estimated 90 million registered gun owners can and will be our only saving grace against the hard tyranny these global elitists are attempting against our sovereignty, liberty, property rights, etc. I truly hope we do not have to excercise the “Last Resort” afforded to us by our constitution and we must continue to be vigilant in voicing our concerns along with our voting power to progressively quash this movement or I fear there could be chaos to the magnitude the world has never witnessed.

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Comment by deborahread March 30, 2011 @ 11:30 am

I believe in generous spirited dialogue, but when a participant is so irrational as to be out of touch with reality, they destroy the value of the discussion.
Vote someone off the island? Yes, but only as per the above condition, not on disagreement.
Cless, sorry bud, but I vote you off.

Particularly ignore the Trolls like the one that lives under that Clinton Bridge to the 20th Century where like the Billy Goats Gruff, promised us a land where the grass was sweet. We found THAT troll and the one we just recently elected to have plenty of warts and their bidge like the one I vistied in Alaska turned out to be the Bridge that leads to nowhere but the wilderness of Liberal Progressivism.

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Comment by AmericaFirst March 30, 2011 @ 2:50 pm

This is for Truth Teller.

Calling people TROLLS is very offensive to me, even when I ardently disagree with their politics.

In my experience, the people that have called others TROLLS were usually big fat, stinky women that didn’t wash. They love to call other people TROLLS! That is what I think of when a person calls someone else a TROLL.

And, NO, I don’t think that the truly offensive should be censored…All sides should be heard. That way, both sides can gain some INSIGHT into the opposition…

I appreciate your comment AmericaFirst and hope your fellow contributors don’t hold it against you. Actually the GOPUSA Staff said close to the same, in an email notice of posts, but I have not been able to find where it has actually been posted.

I posted the Reagan comments not to defend Obama, but to show what was being discussed about the corrupted gun operation in Mexico, is not new or exclusive to Democrats. I had voted for Reagan back then and ended up railing against that incident, just like you folks are about today’s situation. The point is that when the dust settles, there really isn’t that much difference between the parties in over all history. I have had 67 years to see that, which is why I stayed Independent. I kept changing parties, when I thought they would stop this.
My favorite President of all, was Jerald Ford. To this day, I believe that if he had not been a victim of Nixon’s actions and had been elected to continue on, we would have a far better country today. Actually, Nixon’s lesson was not been realized, even to this day. He showed us that winning is everything, not policy or the use of office, after you win.

In today’s news, I saw the exposure of the many, newly elected Tea Party members, who are receiving farming subsidies. The news also showed how many of both houses and both parties are and have been receiving them for generations. It has amounted to many billions over the years and is a $16+billion part of the present Congressional budget fighting going on this very day.
Our justice system is all about winning over justice. Lawyers for both sides get paid to win, even if their side is morally and legally wrong. Our politicians will stand for anything that will get them elected. Both parties depend upon the blind loyalty of their base to believe without question whatever they do or say. They know their base won’t keep up with their voting record on things that benefit themselves over the good of the nation.

I did not show up at the GOPUSA site to fight conservatives, I was sent a link about an article from it. When I signed on to read it and the comments you folks were making about it, I was shocked. It represented everything I am against in all politics. All I could find was hate, being generated by assumptions and supposed truths. No one, even your primary article writers offer solutions, it’s all about attacking the other party, while ignoring the faults of your own party. I say the same on Liberal blogs.

I have not seen one of you who have really considered what will come about, when you repeal Obamacare, impeach Obama, kick all of the liberals out, because all liberals are liars, corrupt, stupid, evil and unworthy of political leadership. Then you jumped on me for saying you are after setting up a Republican DICTATORSHIP. Go back and read each other’s posts and tell me that is not your thinking.

I wish we didn’t have political parties that will support the Devil, himself, to win. But, that is what we have and there is little hope that will end. When it all comes down to it, Capitalist interests, not the people, that control us no matter, which party is in office. Farming subsidies, huh?

Cless, you have it all wrong. The simple answer as to what to do is for everyone to follow the constitution to a tee, period! When I say follow the constitution, I mean follow it according to it’s true meaning by interpreting it via the understanding of the Old English language to which it was written as well a referring to the Federalist papers which I mentioned earlier. We can’t continue with laws, mandates, statutes, and executive orders that are deemed unconstitutional. This is the reason Montana and Arizona are now assembling commitees consisting of constitutional scholars which will go through each and every Federal law, mandate, statute, and executive order and decide whether or not to enact nullification. There are 20+ other states considering such actions as we speak. How’s that as evidence to counter that we don’t have answers or plans to the problems at hand?

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Comment by cless March 31, 2011 @ 1:07 pm

harvieux, that is a plan and I like it. I gave you and edweirdness a five star rating for each of your comments. I also like that you didn’t slam anyone directly in bringing us these facts. The hate and slamming takes over; wherein the real issue gets distorted, lost and quickly forgotten. I would assume committees will be looking at all laws presented by Whigs, Tories, Democrats, Republicans and whoever else created them.

I remember an attempt to do that once before, but I don’t remember which party initiated it. Sadly, even though the Constitutional experts on both sides agreed on most of it, the congress members in place couldn’t and it was lost.

I believe that the Bible and Constitution were meant to evolve with time, experience and increased knowledge. God was stopped from future inspiration of Biblical scriptures around 335 A. D., when the earth was still flat and the sun revolved around it. Evidently, we did the same with our Constitution not long after around 1785.

Now, if those committees come up with all of those contradictory or useless laws and amendments, who can we trust to correct them? That is what I am all about. I think that all voters should check every individual candidate. regardless of their party, long standing or new, for their integrity AND ABILITIES to run our government. Actually, I do not belief that their parties should set the standards, nor do I think the original creators of the Constitution did either. The elected offical pushing the vote button should be held solely responsible for voting his beliefs.

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Comment by cless March 31, 2011 @ 2:01 pm

harvieux, one more thing. You wrote: <<That hurdle is the USA and their movement must be careful not to overwhelm us but to progressively move forward because if you go back into history with the likes of the Third Reich, former Soviet regime, Mao’s communist China, Imperial Japan, as well as some current examples including Iran and N. Korea, you will see that these regimes basically flourished due to the fact that their citizens were mostly disarmed.>>

Actually, the lack of citizen’s guns hardly much to do with all of those regimes taking over. All of those regimes came from hate driven, far right propaganda and brainwashing. Once they took control of their won over citizenship, supporters, with those methods, they armed them and set them out to conquer and control those of different beliefs. Iran is still a far right religious regime with well armed citizenry. Just about all of the Muslim countries are like us, armed to the teeth, and until recently had repressive regimes.

By-the-way, I own guns and believe in the right to own certain guns. However, I have been out on our Texas hunting leases with people that I believe, shouldn’t be allowed to own guns. I do object to having to have a 32 shot clip, because that is what the bad guys have. I also object to any business lobby running our government, including the NRA. I also believe that certain citizens shouldn’t be able to own cars.

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Comment by onewildman March 31, 2011 @ 4:15 pm

Cless you made the point for having 32 round magazines. You said: ” I do object to having to have a 32 shot clip, because that is what the bad guys have.” Why would you want to be at a disadvantage when confronted by a criminal?
The Chinese were disarmed centuries ago so they could be controlled. That is the reason martial arts came about. Hitler disarmed Germany before the people were subjugated. Stalin did the same in Russia as did Mao in Communist China. the inability to defend themselves is why these people were oppressed. Not having guns makes a big difference. That is why liberals want guns banned so they can control us.

IMPEACH OBAMA NOW! ! ! ! ! !

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Comment by cless March 31, 2011 @ 4:55 pm

onewildman, there are so many 32-clip and such weapons getting into the hands of criminals, is why I would have to have one also. it is our American arms race within itself and that will never be good. Our gun manufactures know this, but turn their heads and say, “I just make them.” Hitler is below and if you need it, I’ll get the same information on the other regimes.

Did Hitler disarm German citizens and thus consolidate his control? Yes and no.

“This year will go down in history. For the first time a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future.”
–Adolph Hitler, 1935

This is a bogus quote.

On the other hand, he certainly disarmed conquered peoples.

And he had Jews register their firearms.

Germany was awash in guns after WW1. Many citizens continued to carry personal firearms.

More to the point, Hitler had widespread support and didn’t need to confiscate every weapon in Germany. German society was a populist police state: the Gestapo peered into everything…but Germans weren’t anywhere near ready to revolt against the government, armed or not. This was an acquiescent society that obeyed the law.

Would the Jews have been better off if they’d been armed? There’s no simple answer to that, either. At the outset German Jews went more or less peacefully to the camps. Resistance, armed or not, was out of the question. Family groups wanted to stay together and avoid trouble. In any case it would have been hard to take a concealed weapon into a camp, even if they had one. And once there, what would they have done with a handgun?

There is only one example of armed revolt against the guards in a death camp, at Sobibor. Inmates seized weapons, killed SS guards, and broke through the fence…into a mine field. Some survived and escaped.

The Warsaw Ghetto uprising showed what Jews could do when their fate was clear: they got hold of guns and stopped a Waffen SS detachment dead in its tracks for days, until reinforcements and armor could be brought up to level the ghetto. Some Jews escaped through the sewers.

In the end, it is a specious argument to say that Hitler got control by registering weapons and ultimately confiscating them, and that we Americans should learn form this lesson.

What we should learn is that there is entirely too much datum available on each and every one of us, available to people and institutions that may not have as much respect for the Constitution as they should.

Cless Wrote: [I believe that the Bible and Constitution were meant to evolve with time, experience and increased knowledge. God was stopped from future inspiration of Biblical scriptures around 335 A. D., when the earth was still flat and the sun revolved around it. Evidently, we did the same with our Constitution not long after around 1785]
Sorry, the constitution is not a living, breathing document like the far left wrongly claims it to be. Also, the constitution was not meant to evolve over time unless two thirds of congress propose an amendment followed by the ratification of three quarters of the state’s legislators (currently being 34 of the 50 states. Amending the constitution is extremely difficult and meant to be so by our founding fathers. Amendments were attempted 33 times in our history with 27 of these 33 attempts receiving ratification.
Please explain to me how and why you think the constitution should evolve with the times. To me, it’s like picking and choosing which laws to follow and which laws to break.

Malkin states that Project Gunrunner was the spawn of beltway bi-partisanship, but fails to ‘name names’. Come on Michelle, these are the sorts of issues that get American’s riled up enough to remove these elected morons from office. Telling us who though this was a ‘good idea’ is important. Don’t make us dig for data you’ve already researched. Plain and simple, if any Republican politician or bureaucrat worked to help implement this fiasco, they need to go! And those that follow in their footsteps had better learn from these mistakes, because the voters of this nation have changed substantially in the past few years. We won’t forget, and we will bend over backwards to hold these pukes accountable.

I hesitate to comment off subject, but… First, as one of Norwegian heritage I both appreciate and hesitate to endorse the use of “Trolls” to discribe the loons who post (there surely are a couple, and I’m confident we all know who falls into the category). Trolls, you no doubt know, come from Norse mythology.

Second, our Bill of Rights. All have the same right to express their opinions, and, as I have opined on other occasions, there is no law against being stupid. I agree with TruthTeller and others who suggest we permit all to post their rantings, but disregard those posts, ignore the comments, and do not waste your bandwith addressing their comments. As others have noted, I doubt seriously any of the conservative comments, regardless of their verasity, would make a difference. You must remember, those loons have minds like steel traps–nothing gets in.

Third, our Bill of Rights. All have the right to bear arms. Many talk about the need because of criminals (of the street variety). Keep in mind, though, the founding fathers considered the Second Amendment as VITAL for citizens’ defense against THE GOVERNMENT. History will tell you why/how countries were FIRST disarmed, then overtaken.

I believe we must IMPEACH OBAMA NOW, but I am not holding my breath while the House of Representatives makes the decision for such an action.

“All have the same right to express their opinions, and, as I have opined on other occasions, there is no law against being stupid.Â

They do have the right to speak. They do not have the right to an audience. Thus the government can not tell them what to say or not but the owner of the blog, newspaper etc can.

Knorske:

“You must remember, those loons have minds like steel traps–nothing gets in.”

It is not the troll nor the loon nor the liberal with minds like steel traps that we speak when we address their points. And address the points we sometimes must. We speak to those who are not sure or have awakened and want help breaking the liberal brainwashing. We point out the hypocrisy in the liberal thought. We point out the lack of thought in the liberal thought. We counter the seeming logic that liberals use. We counter the feel good nonsense the liberals use. This is why we should not ignore trolls. We use them as part of our proof of our assertions.

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Comment by atlas April 1, 2011 @ 11:36 am

I found out about Michelle Malkin’s article on Project Gunrunner in a newsletter that did a good job summarizing this mess. They have a link to Darrell Issa’s letter to Sec. Clinton. ( link: http://www.jbpholsters.com/newsletter_04_2011.html ).
I called my congressman and senators to keep digging into this. If we don’t keep bugging them, this will get forgotten with other Obama corruption stories that people have come accept as normal.